Objective of the study was to make a comparative analysis of the financial and economic management systems of the modern European Football Leagues to find the most efficient one. Methods and structure of the study. The European Football Leagues subject to the comparative analysis herein were classified by the specific financing mechanisms. As far as free market corporate businesses are concerned, their performance efficiency is rated by mostly their profitability - whilst the sports industries, with their emphasis on the social service dimension, are still in need of reliable and transparent performance indicators. Many studies in this field have offered different sets of performance rating criteria, with varied subjectively ranked contributions to the consolidated performance rates. Based on analyses of the relevant research literature with concern to the economic processes in the modern sports industry and its strategic management issues, we developed a set of performance criteria applicable for the sports leagues` economic progress rating and analyzing purposes. Results and conclusion. The study showed that the professional sports industry operates (conditional on a competent management, particularly in the brand name/ club/ league promotion, advertizing, clientele building, human resourcing, investment and innovation activity supporting and other elements) as a highly effective and profitable investment and advertising instrument with the potential high benefits both in the financial and image building domains, and with the relevant socio-economic progress aspects. These correlated financial and economic performance mechanisms in our country may be mobilized conditional on the significant growth of the private shareholding interests including households - that are known to account for 70-80% of the total revenues of the European Premier Leagues clubs, with these interests largely protecting the clubs from the risks associated with the budgetary-only funding of the sports industry.
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